Investing in Children's Mental Health

The kids are not alright. In a historic moment of convergence, the U.S. Surgeon General has identified youth mental health as the ‘defining public health crisis of our time’ and supports for social emotional wellness stoke political debate in school board meetings. We need a practical path to assess, advance, and advocate for the most promising investments to help children and youth flourish. In this offering, Daniel Eisenberg and Ramesh Raghavan meet the moment with a multidisciplinary approach. As parents, policymakers, and child advocates we owe them a debt of gratitude for lighting a path to action and helping us return smiles to children’s faces and spring to teenagers’ steps.” -Rev. Dr. Starsky Wilson, President & CEO, Children’s Defense FundInvesting in strategies that promote children’s mental health is the most profitable choice that societies can make. In this highly engaging and readable book, Professors Eisenberg and Raghavan present a roadmap of why and how to make such investments, investments that I urge my fellow policymakers to support in order to better the lives of children within their countries and communities. * Ásmundur Einar Daðason, Minister of Education and Children, Government of Iceland *

Daniel Eisenberg is a health economist and professor at University of California, Los Angeles. His goal is to improve understanding of how to invest effectively in the mental health of young people. He is the founder and a Principal Investigator for the Healthy Minds Study, a leading national study of mental health in college populations in the U.S.

Ramesh Raghavan is a child mental health services researcher at New York University. He has led several studies on access to, and quality of, mental health services for vulnerable child populations, primarily those in the child welfare system. Dr. Raghavan earned his PhD in Health Services from the University of California, Los Angeles, his MD in Psychiatry from Kasturba Medical College, Manipal University, India, and his bachelor’s degree from Stanley Medical College, TamilNadu Medical University, India.